[ad_1]
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks during a press conference on the charges for the 2019 White Island volcanic eruption in Wellington on November 30, 2020 (Photo by Marty MELVILLE / AFP).
WELLINGTON – New Zealand will begin offering free COVID-19 vaccines to its entire population in the middle of next year, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Thursday.
The government said it had obtained enough vaccines to inoculate the country’s 5 million people, with two new agreements signed with pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca and Novavax.
The agreements ensure access to 7.6 million doses of AstraZeneca, enough for 3.8 million people, and 10.72 million doses of Novavax, enough for 5.36 million people. Both vaccines require the administration of two doses.
“It will be New Zealand’s largest immunization deployment,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told a news conference.
New Zealand is among a handful of countries that managed to contain COVID-19 within their borders. There have been 25 deaths and 1,744 confirmed cases of COVID-19 so far.
Ardern said the government will vaccinate border personnel and rescue workers starting in the second quarter of 2021, and the general public in the second half of next year.
However, delivery dates were not guaranteed given the high demand for vaccines, even in countries facing large numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths.
“Never before has the whole world tried to vaccinate the entire population at the same time,” Ardern said. “This will be a sustained deployment for months, not weeks, but our pre-purchase agreements mean that New Zealand is well positioned to move forward as soon as it is proven safe to do so.”
COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the health ministry has purchased nine large minus 80 degrees Celsius freezers that can store more than 1.5 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. These were on track to arrive by the end of the year.
Hipkins said the initiation of COVID-19 vaccines would not lead to any immediate changes to the country’s closed borders.
For more news on the new coronavirus, click here.
What you need to know about the coronavirus.
For more information on COVID-19, call the DOH hotline: (02) 86517800 local 1149/1150.
The Inquirer Foundation supports our leaders in healthcare and still accepts cash donations to be deposited into the Banco de Oro (BDO) checking account # 007960018860 or donate through PayMaya using this link .
Read next
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer and more than 70 other titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download from 4am and share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.
For comments, complaints or inquiries, please contact us.
[ad_2]
